It was a long way from Townsville, but we are still far from our destination: Darwin. So we’ve decided to make a few stops on our way there.

Mataranka

We took a night bus to reach Mataranka and it was quite tiring (we had to shift to another bus in Tenant Creek in the middle of the night…) so we are happy to arrive in Mataranka Homestead! Mataranka Homestead is a motel/backpacker/caravan park, a bit lost in the middle of the outback. But many tourists are coming there every day to enjoy a famous hot spring. We spent 2 days there because we really needed a real bed for a few nights! And the hot spring was very enjoyable!

We have even been for a run. At least we tried… Because here you are in the bush. It’s a lot a fun to run with kangaroos, but when we met some kind of wild dog (a dingo?) showing us his teeth, it was less funny… So we’ve been back to our room, and next time, we won’t run in the bush!

Katherine

After our short stay in Mataranka, we hit the road again, but just for a 2 hour trip to Katherine, where we’ve spent one night. Nothing in particular to say about Katherine. It’s the last big city befor the outback, for the people who are heading south and people are stopping there to make some groceries and to fill their fuel tanks.

Tomorrow, we will take the Ghan, the famous train linking Adelaide to Darwin!